Have you ever gone on YouTube, found a video for a song where the song was good, but the video was really strange, but you kept replaying it?
No, I’ve never done that either.
Seriously, I was on YouTube on the weekend and found a video I used to like watching a few years ago. As soon as I saw the title pop up in the list of recommended videos, I knew I would be watching it again – and again – and again.
The song is by Suzi Quatro, it’s from 1974, and it’s called “Devil Gate Drive.” There are a couple of other concert-type videos, but the one you’re looking for is “The Original B&W Clip.”
Yes, it’s a music video for a good hard rocking song in black and white, and it’s one of the strangest and at the same time cutest videos I’ve ever seen.
OK, first point to note. I really like the song. It’s got a good strong beat, and it works really well with Suzi’s voice.
On to the video. It’s a very simple concept. Suzi and her band at what looks like it could be an old gazebo with all kinds of strange stage trappings just lying around.
What makes the video so much fun to watch is that the band is obviously having a lot of fun doing it. There’s some choreography (sort of), but the neat thing is that after watching the video a few times, I realized it is actually quite well choreographed. Everybody stays pretty much in step, everybody remembers what the steps are supposed to be, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.
My only complaint is the camera switches away from the band’s dancing at times to show us shots of Suzi among the stage trappings.
The whole black-and-white thing lends its own air of, well, cuteness to the proceedings, and it looks like it was shot on an old movie camera. It’s not crisp and clean in the least, at least visually.
Musically, it is crisp and clear, and what more can you ask for?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch a certain video again, and probably head down the rabbit hole of videos YouTube presents me on the right side of the screen.